Peter Cooper On Music: 3rd & Lindsley still helping performers grow

We tend to celebrate at beginnings, at major anniversaries — the ones with zeros at the end — and at conclusions.

But for music venues, the day-to-day is what’s important, what’s necessary and what ought to be cheered. More specifically, when it’s good, the day-to-day ought to be experienced. Otherwise, we’ll soon celebrate another ending.

Nashville’s 3rd & Lindsley Bar & Grill has been open now for 21 years, under the same management and with the same broad mission: Provide a good vibe and good music for the patrons who walk in the door and pay to hear world-class players.

When owner Ron Brice decided to expand the seating from 275 to around 550 last year, some of the regulars figured that their time was drawing nigh, that Brice might be forced to drop the usual suspects in favor of booking only acts that can sell out the larger space.

“No way,” says Brice, who has run the place since the beginning, when he and a friend bought it in a government auction. (It used to be Mexican restaurant Jose’s, a popular spot for downtown legislators, police officers men and others.)

“The overhead is low here, this place has long been paid for, and these people are my friends. I’ve been working with them for years, and I know them well. My approach is that I partner with bands: They pick up the door, I take the sales and everybody walks away happy. I book something because I want to see it.”

Brice says he’s prospered in part because he’s never felt a competition with any of these places, in part because of a two-decade collaboration with WRLT on the “Live from 3rd & Lindsley” Nashville Sunday Night shows, and in part because he’s never felt a need to limit himself to a particular genre or musical ethic.

“I book what I like,” he says. “And I’m a big believer in bringing artists from a starting point to where they get too big for the room. I get behind three or four things at a time, and try to put them in front of as many people as I can, to develop an audience for them. Lady Antebellum” — now, of course, an arena-level contemporary country act — “started here, playing a couple of Tuesdays a month for a year. Something like that, the first time there might be 50 people. Then it’s mostly full. Then it sells out. And then they’re gone.”

Giving back

The McCrary Sisters (photo: Sanford Myers/The Tennessean).

Among Brice’s latest favorites is The McCrary Sisters, a vocal group whose members are the daughters of gospel legend Sam McCrary. The sisters have performed with Buddy Miller, Dr. John, Mike Farris and many more, and sister Regina McCrary spent years performing and recording with Bob Dylan. Deborah McCrary has lately been in dire need of medical care, and Sunday, on May 20, 3rd & Lindsley will play host to a benefit show for Deborah that will feature guests including Delbert McClinton and his band.

“It’s a giving community,” Brice says. “And the sisters are nice folks. Of course, we open up for something like that.”

The night before the Deborah McCrary benefit, Webb Wilder, whose It Came From Nashville album was a force in establishing Music City’s national rock reputation in the 1980s, plays an early show that coincides with his birthday. Wilder was among those who figured that 3rd & Lindsley’s renovation and expansion might mean he’d need to find another Nashville spot to play, but he’s found he’s still at home there.

“If you go into a guitar store, they either let you pull the guitars off the walls and play them or they don’t, and that’s a vibe thing,” Wilder says.

“If Ron was running a guitar store, he’d let you play the guitars. With the renovations, the place has maintained character and friendliness, and improved the sight-lines and the sound. For musicians and audience members, nothing is lost and everything is gained.”